Kensington Metropark

In Michigan, you don't really know when winter ends and spring starts. But Ping managed to get her first spring outing two weeks ago. Went out to Kensington Metropark Nature Center. The Kensington Metropark is actually a reall
y huge park with a farm house, man-made beaches, boat rental, waterpark and lots of hiking trails in addition to the nature center.

The nature center is basically a combination of trails that run through the woods with a variety of birds. Most of the large birds like the heron and the swan can be seen from the Boardwalk along the Wildwing Lake. Right in the middle of the lake is a little island where most of the herons build their nests. Ping got the chance to look through a zoom lens to see the birds building their nests. There was also a swan who displayed itself not too far from the Boardwalk.

The most surprising thing this trip is we found a coot! Yes, just one. But am pretty sure it is not 小黑 because it looks smaller. John got a really nice picture of it that looks like it is smiling after eating some weed. Hehe, as you all can tell here, Ping didn't take that many photos this trip since it is pretty hard to capture all those birds from far and with the sun so bright, Ping don't really know how to take a nice picture so Ping will just link to John's photos which are way better photos to look at anyway. Wish we could have just brought the coot back to the Red Cedar River! It has been a little quiet at the river lately...maybe because of the flood from the crazy amount of rain we got recently.
Ping also brought some bird seeds for the birds. The birds that came by to eat it by the Boardwalk were mostly this black ones with red wings.
Ping had the most fun when the chikadees came to feed on Ping's hand! It was a little freaky initially because their little legs are quite sharp but after a while, it was fun! Ping felt like laughing out loud because they were ticklish! It was funny watching them watch us first before they land on our hand, pick out their favorite seed and fly away to eat them.

The other fun one is trying to get a picture of a cute little squirrel and a chipmunk. It took us a while before we finally got this close to it. Ping brought a peanut for the squirrel too. It was funny how it would go in a zig-zag to avoid us to get to the peanut instead of darting straight for it. It was so mean though! It took the peanut away and didn't bother to pose for a photo as a token of thank you!!
Ping was reading about Steven Morello's work and came across this quote - "The key to shooting powerful nature photography is to first be a good naturalist". This is so true because there really is a difference between someone who wants to take a photo just because they want to and someone who wants to take a photo to capture the nature with a non-bias point of view.

Spider

Look at how huge the spider web is!! Ping totally didn't realize how big it was when Ping was taking the photo. It was only when Ping uploaded the photo that the web is visible. Phew! Lucky thing Ping didn't destroy it...要不然, 蜘蛛真白費工夫了.

Little Squirrel

Now that 小黑 has disappeared from the river, Ping have to look for another animal to entertain her walks there. Hehehe...

Here is 可可 (as named by ah Pei). There is actually lots of squirrels (松鼠) around so Ping is unlikely to recognize 可可 again. However, this particular one was really curious about Ping's camera and it was very friendly because every time Ping calls it, it will turn around and look what is going on. It came pretty close too!

Initially it was pretty far and busy eating a tree bark.
Then it came closer...and still eating.
Then it went up the tree that was right in front of where we sat and start cleaning itself.
Then when we called it, it turned and looked at us!!
Ping got more cute squirrels!! But wanna go home and go to bed edi...will upload more tomorrow!

Signs of life...

Imagine you are in a dark forest where all the trees seem to be dried and dead-looking. Everywhere you look, it looks the same. No matter what direction you head, you feel like you are the only living being.

Until you find a green shoot growing off the branches...
Or when you see flower buds...
They don't look as pretty as the flowers but it is pretty rare chance to catch them because they are around only for a week or so before they grow and bloom into pretty flowers. Ping loves watching out for them because it means the garden will be filled with colors again! They are worth watching out too because they are like the stuff that comes by our lives for only a short while and they have to be treasured while they are around!

Those were all taken last week. Ping have yet to go out this week (it has been raining cats and dogs since Sunday) but am pretty sure the rain will be a big help in blooming the flowers. Will go check out the perennial garden this weekend for the early bloomers!

Cici Jelly Drink

Guess what Ping got from Pei today! It is the Cici Jelly Drink endorsed by 杰倫!! Hehe..felt like a kid when Lin showed it to Ping. Who would have thought that Jay endorsed products will be sold here in the US! What more in Michigan!!

Can you spot the bird?

Mmm...breakfast.

The brother was super sweet this morning! Ping get to sleep in for an extra 30 minutes and still get to campus earlier than the bus! Hehe..got a ride in from the brother.

Plus, Ping got breakfast too...
Not enough vege but when you get free breakfast, you don't complain! Yummy!

Hehe...Ping got a snack too! Felt like high school kid!
No idea what is Choco-Pie but ahdik says it is yummy! Thanks!!

Underwater or no?

Are these rocks underwater? :)

Candle-like Plant

Ping had a sudden memory of this flower Ping saw at Kellogg Biological Station in August 2007 during a sampling trip. It was at the deciduous forest plots. It looks kinda creepy when Ping first saw it. It has the texture of a candle. When you push it, it just springs back at you. Imagine a plant from Endor in Star Wars - hehe...that was Ping's first thought. Like if you touch it, it will engulf you into a forest full of Ewoks. Ping had to stare at it for a while before daring to touch it.
The roots does not seem to be like any regular roots. In fact, it is just like a trail of candle wax. The tallest one is only about 6-7 inches long and each stem only flourish into one bulb. As you can see in the first picture, some of them appear to have a black pigment but Ping couldn't tell if the non-pigment is the older or younger bulb. It also doesn't have any green leaves.
Inside the bulb is most likely the reproductive system as it looks like a regular stamen and pollens. Hopefully Ping will get to see if again this Wednesday when Ping samples DF plots...and maybe find out what it is called.

The view from one of the deciduous plot...

Basketball Champion

Basketball fever is over! After the regular season and Big Ten Tournament basketball, Ping got her wish to see more of Spartans when they just kept going stronger as they went further into the NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) tournament.

Basketball for Ping started way back in high school when Ping watched CS and gang played at the court near his house after school. At that time it was more to hang out with the gang rather than to watch basketball. Ping did not start appreciating the game until in college when the Sunway guys all played in the college tournament.

For MSU basketball, Ping was introduced to it during her first year, by Uri, who at that time, had the student season tickets. It was always fun to hear him talk about the games and one day, Ping was granted the opportunity to go watch it herself when Tom gave her tickets to one of the game. Ping went with Brian who explained all the culture of watching basketball game at the Breslin center. Then came a few more tickets from Tom whenever he and his sons couldn't make it to the game...
Eventually, Ping got caught up with the game. Ping finally got the chance to get season tickets when Ping met ah Pei who was excited about basketball game as Ping!!
13 home games! Ping didn't miss any of them at all! Almost missed the last one when Pei went to Disneyworld but was glad Ping end up finding someone to go with! Hehe...super loyal lehhhh. Even the away games, Ping only missed 2 of them while they were playing the Old Spice tournament.

From these regular season game, they are placed in seeds (some sort of ranking with complicating statistics) to play in the Big Ten tournament. The Big Ten tournament is a competition among all the Big Ten schools (which really has 11 schools). In the United States, the sports team of all the division I schools are separated according to the region the college is located. The Big Ten schools are division I colleges in Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Depending on the outcome of the Big Ten tournament, the schools will be seeded along with all the other division I schools in the US to determine their seed in the NCAA tournament. Hence, the Big Ten tournament is analogous to Majlis Sukan Daerah while NCAA tournament is analogous to Majlis Sukan Negara in Malaysia. (Although Ping might be totally off since Ping never did pay attention to those stuff back in high school and have not paid any attention to it since Ping left high school).

This year, we lost to Ohio State in the semi-final of the Big Ten tournament, we are still considered the Big Ten champion because we won the most game within the conference (2 more than the runner-up). The outcome of the Big Ten tournament had put us as the #2 seed, playing against Robert Morris in the first round of the NCAA games. While Ping had wanted them to play really well and go far in the tournament, Ping didn't thought it would happen because we were so inconsistent in our games all season. BUT, the guys did show their true color and played very well, bringing Spartans to play in the National Championship game.

Unfortunately, we lost to U-North Carolina. It wasn't a bad thing though because the seniors played their heart out and it was a good game. UNC was just way better than us. But, Ping believe that MSU will be part of the Final Four again next year as we still have most of our great players - Delvon Roe, Kalin Lucas, Raymar Morgan, Durrell Summers, Korie Lucious and maybe even Chris Allen if he plays more consistent. Ping is just proud to see her school played in the championship game! While some people see it as a disappointing lost, Ping sees it as an improvement - they lost by 35 points when they last played UNC in Dec 08 for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. This time, they only lost by 17 points to UNC. They pulled it closer by half!! If you don't call that an improvement, then you are probably one of those who watch basketball for the sake of seeing 3-point shots.

Ping will miss watching basketball in the summer as it was fun times watching it with Lin and talking basketball with the guys on the floor and all the people Ping have met because of basketball...but, it is Spring time!! There are lots more fun stuff to do outside!!!

Haha, Ping's wardrobe also acquired two new shirt because of basketball.
The white Izzone shirt came along with the season tickets. Izzone represents the student session that cheers at the basketball games. The name is from MSU's basketball coach - Tom Izzo -'s last name. Their slogan this year is "The definition of home court advantage" - known for the intimidating atmosphere that the Izzones bring, making Breslin Center one of the most challenging place to play. The dark green shirt is one that Ping bought when we won the Elite 8 to join the Final Four game.

Diversity

Three different type of avians - American coot, the regular Mallard duck and Canadian goose - all living at the same section of the river. A good example of how different species can co-exist due to the different niches they occupy within the same habitat. Ping have yet to see the American Coot eat anything but it definitely has a different diet than the Mallard ducks and Canadian goose. Ping was by the river today and saw a little boy feeding the ducks with bread. The American Coot had no desire to go near the little boy at all while the Canadian geese and Mallard ducks were gobbling down the bread. The Canadian geese is a lot larger than the ducks so they were some sort of a threat to the ducks, as the ducks only charged for the bread when the Canadian geese missed it. However, they are not commonly found on the river as today is the first time Ping saw them there. In fact, the most common area to find the Canadian geese is at Trappers Cove where Ping lives! There are tons of them everywhere! They are found more on land than on the lake. One thing that keeps them preferably on land than on lake is their herbivorous diet. Therefore, they are not a big threat to the Mallard ducks and American Coot whenever it visits the river.

Such peaceful co-existence between animals make one wonder why the same peacefulness is hard to come by among humans, who are all the same species.

Spring is here!

The weather has been consistently nice for the past few days. A little chilly when there is wind but nice enough to be out walking and no more ice to scrap in the morning! The sun is also setting a lot later (about 8pm) so Ping get to go out walking after walk.

Remember the American Coot from last post? Ping first spotted it on the last week of March sitting/standing on a rock. What caught Ping's attention was it being so still. There was lots of movements around it as the regular ducks was swimming around chasing each other and causing turbulence. This particular black duck just sat there, as though it is in its own world.
On that day, it just wouldn't budge so Ping didn't get to see how it looks like. It was only until this past Wednesday that Ping get to see it swimming around. Ping went back yesterday evening to see if it was still there...almost gave me a scare! It wasn't where it was before. It had swim upstream, closer to the Computer Science building where it was almost hidden by the trees by the river bank. This time it was actively swimming so it looks really cute with its head bobbing. It looks like it is not very stable, rocking to and fro. Hehe...yeah, Ping is getting attached to it. Hopefully it'll still be around for a while. Otherwise, Ping have to start looking for another target. :P

American Coot

Haha, Ping has recently self-adopt a pet...okay, okay, that is so unlikely. Mum would never buy that.

Ping 'found' a weird looking duck by the Red Cedar River on campus a few weeks ago. Ever since then, Ping have been going back to check it out every few days. When Ping first saw it, Ping thought it was some kind of bird but the more you look at it, the more it looks like a duck. A friend mentioned that it is an American Coot so Ping look it up and found that it actually is a type of waterbird, although commonly mistaken for a duck. However, it is in a different order, evolving more recent than the regular looking ducks. It seems to occupy a certain rock by the river bank and is just oblivious to the regular ducks. They swim all around it and it just does not budge or even acknowledge their presence.

Unlike the regular ducks, it does not have webbed feet. In fact, its feet looks like chicken feet (haha, according to Ping's lack of knowledge about birds lah). It is probably because of such thin feet that makes it look clumsy when swimming in the water. It doesn't seem to swim as fast, or maybe it was just chillin' when Ping was there yesterday evening. Have yet to see it fly or walk on land but it is definitely capable of both. Maybe Ping will see it do something different tomorrow!!

Wonder how is this Coot going to mate this coming mating season? Ping have yet to see any other similar ones. Maybe more will come as the weather warms up...or maybe this will fly away. Hmm...hope not as Ping is going to miss watching out for it when Ping goes for walks by the river!

Here's a video that Ping took yesterday evening.